HANCOCK COUNTY — Just like almost everything these days, school is expected to look a lot different at Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation when classes start up again on July 29.
For those who choose so, it will be through their computers. For those attending in person, they should notice less congregating and more social distancing, masks, symptom-watching and cleaning.
With the help of a Back-to-School Task Force of about 25 people, the school corporation has developed a draft plan for starting the 2020-21 academic year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents who want their children to receive education virtually should declare their children as virtual students for at least the first semester, according to the draft plan. Virtual students won’t participate in extracurricular activities unless sponsors are able to accommodate them virtually.
Whether virtual or in person, content will be first delivered to all students electronically through a Learning Management System or by another means determined by their teachers.
“Virtual students should expect the same workload as in-class students,” the plan states.
The plan stresses that children should be kept home if they are sick with any illness. When reporting an illness to a school, parents and staff will be asked if the symptoms are related to COVID-19, like a fever of at least 100.4 degrees; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; chills; muscle pain; headache; sore throat or new loss of taste or smell.
Students and staff should self-screen each day before coming to school, and parents and staff should notify schools if any symptoms occur, according to the plan. Schools will discontinue perfect-attendance incentives, and parents should be prepared, with short notice, if a school is temporarily closed or if their child is sent home.
Access to school facilities throughout the day will be limited to students and staff, the plan also states.
The school corporation will enact enhanced cleaning procedures in classrooms, common areas and on high-touch surfaces. Additional hand-sanitizer stations will be installed, and frequent hand-washing will be mandated. Plastic glass barriers will be installed in high-traffic areas where possible. Schools will practice social distancing in all areas.
Students and staff will be expected to have a mask or face shield at all times, and they’ll be required to wear masks when social distancing is unreasonable or unlikely.
“We understand that masks may be difficult for some to wear, and we will work to not make this a discipline issue for students,” the draft plan states. “If a student continues to not wear a mask when required, they may be asked to participate in school virtually.”
Jack Parker, Mt. Vernon superintendent, said in a video distributed by the school corporation that masks will be made available to students through consumable fees.
“We do not expect students to wear masks for much of the day, just a smaller percentage of the day when social distancing is not possible,” Parker said.
Students and staff will be required to wear masks on buses. Buses will also have assigned seating and be disinfected at the end of each day as well as between each route.
Centralized congregation of students will be eliminated, masks will be required during transitions and dismissal will be staggered.
Students will use their ID cards to pay for meals in a touchless manner. Food lines will be marked for social distancing. Parents of students attending school virtually can pick up meals as determined by the food service department.
Several touchless water bottle filling stations will go in main areas of each school.
Field trips and in-person convocations are off for the foreseeable future, and no indoor rentals of school facilities will be permitted for at least the first semester. Crowd sizes will be limited during athletic events and other performances.
The draft plan also addresses social, emotional and mental health needs by having each school develop a plan to identify and individually support students struggling with schoolwork, feelings of isolation or social interactions.
Students and staff will be excluded from school if they test positive for COVID-19 or exhibit one or more of the disease’s symptoms.
The draft plan lays out how students and staff should return to school, whether they test positive and have symptoms, test positive with no symptoms or were untested with symptoms.
Anyone who comes into contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 will be asked to stay home for two days and then get tested.
Communication procedures will be developed for informing school staff and parents in the event of an infection among students or staff, which will likely involve a temporary closing of a classroom or school. A deep cleaning and disinfection of the building and buses will follow.
The plan emphasizes that reentry plans are fluid and will change as needed, but that “guiding principles will remain constant and serve as a measuring stick for future changes.”
Those principles include safety and wellness for all stakeholders, opportunity for all students to learn at high levels and family-school partnerships.
The plan, along with other health and safety information regarding the school corporation, is available at mvcsc.k12.in.us/mc/2.
Mt. Vernon is seeking input on the draft plan, and surveys have been released to stakeholders. Those with questions are encouraged to sign up for one of Parker’s upcoming virtual traveling talks, a link to which is available on the school corporation’s health and safety page.
Parker said in his recent video that parents need to complete the survey to indicate whether their children will be attending school in person or virtually and whether they plan to ride a bus to and from school.
Parker said surveys are due Monday, July 13 and that the school corporation hopes to have the reentry plan finalized by the middle of the month.
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Read the draft of Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation’s Back-to-School Plan in its entirety at mvcsc.k12.in.us/mc/2.
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